Our Indian Sisters by Edith E. Bruce

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Feb 16, 1911

Our Indian Sisters

By Edith E. Bruce

EDITH E. BRUCE

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth.” Gen. 1:26. In the beginning man and woman were placed upon an equal footing by an all-wise Creator and a loving Heavenly Father. In speaking of the creation of man, some one has very fittingly said: “God did not take woman from man’s head to rule over him; neither did he take her from his feet, that she should be his slave, or that he should trample on her; but he took her from his side, that she should be his companion and helpmeet.”

This divine blessing and privilege and responsibility assigned to woman in the beginning is the standard maintained wherever the religion of Jesus Christ is believed and practised. Paul said that in Christ Jesus “there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one.” This is the freedom, the privilege, the God-given happiness, of the women in civilized countries; but how about the millions of women—our sisters—sitting in heathendom to-day? It is the purpose of this series of articles to bring before the minds of our own people, whose work it is to give the last message of warning and mercy to all the world, some of the conditions and needs of the women of this great Indian empire. Of these we can only hope to give a glimpse as they really exist in this country, in this enlightened twentieth century. The pen is too feeble, our words are too inadequate, to begin to portray all the wrongs heaped upon Indian womanhood.

Consulting the census report, we find that of the three hundred million inhabitants of India, two hundred seven millions are Hindus, and sixty-two millions Mohammedans, while the remaining millions are distributed among the other races living in the land. When we consider that of this number there are twenty-six million (or more than one fourth the population of the United States) widows, many of them little girls who never knew what it meant to be a wife, and to this enormous number add the nine million child-wives, we can then begin to realize what is meant by the wrongs inflicted upon the suffering women of India.

In his effort to degrade the human race, Satan made his first attack upon woman; and to-day in India, with its idol-worship of more than three hundred million false gods, his diabolical work can be seen manifested against woman as in perhaps no other country under the sun.

This evil has not been brought about in a day or in a generation. History tells us that in the early days, when the Aryans first came from Western Asia, they were a noble race, and that their women held an honorable position. Sir W. W. Hunter says: “Women enjoyed a high position, and some of the most beautiful hymns were composed by ladies and queens. Marriage was held sacred. Husbands and wives were both rulers of the house, and drew near to the gods together in prayer.”—“Hunter’s Indian History,” page 55.

But “the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.” “Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god.” This was so more than three thousand years ago, and it is just as true to-day, because it is according to an eternal law.

Under this false religion four castes were formed (more than 2,300 castes and tribes were named in the last census report): (1) The priest, or Brahman; (2) the warrior, or fighting companions of the king, called Rajputs,—literally, “of the royal stock;” (3) the agriculturists; and (4) the Sudras, or serfs. From these four divisions innumerable other castes have been formed. The Brahman, or priest, caste framed the laws, and made them a part of the religion of the people.

Besides the Vedas, believed by the devout Hindu of to-day to be the eternal, self-existing word of God, revealed by him to different sages, there are more than twenty-five books of sacred law ascribed to different inspired authors, who wrote or compiled them at various times, and on which are based the principles, customs, and religious institutions of the Hindus. Among these the code of Manu, composed in its present final form between 100 and 500 A. D., ranks highest. This moral and political code, as compounded by Manu, is reputed to have been revealed to that sage by Brahma himself; hence we can easily see what a wonderful influence it has on the mind of the Hindu. In his history of India, Epinstone says, speaking of this code: “Its statements relating to women are very copious; and while some of them are just and human, others of them are simply detestable.” To show how detestable are some of these rules, which are so rigorously adhered to by the Hindu, we will quote from the code the following:—

“Hear now the duties of woman! By a girl, by a young woman, or even by an aged one, nothing must be done independently, even in her own house.”

“Though destitute of virtue, or seeking pleasure elsewhere, or devoid of good qualities, yet a husband must be constantly worshiped as a god by a faithful wife.”

“No sacrifice, no vow, no fast, must be performed by women apart from their husbands; they will for that reason alone be exalted in heaven.”

“Day and night, woman must be kept in dependence by the males of her family. Her father protects [?] her in childhood, her husband in youth, and her son in old age; a woman is never fit for independence.”

“The wife is the marital property of her husband.”

“Let the husband neither eat with his wife nor look at her eating.”

“Stealing grain, base metals, or cattle, slaying women or the Sudras [inferior caste], and atheism are all minor offenses.”

These are but a few of many like statements in regard to the unfortunate women of India, and this sentiment is so firmly established in the minds of the Hindu people that it would take generations to root it out; nothing but the pure and undefiled religion of Jesus Christ can ever eradicate it. It is true that English rule has done something for Indian women, but law without public sentiment is, as we know, almost useless; then, too, so much that is degrading and against woman is couched under the guise of religion, that sometimes the situation looks hopeless.

This diabolical system of false religion, born of satanic agency, has placed millions of women behind the purdah, where they are kept in greater bondage than that of an African slave. The wife is declared to be the marital property of her husband, and is classed with the cows, she-goats, mares, female camels, slave-girls, buffalo cows, and ewes.

Think of it, women! You who are enjoying all the privileges of freedom and education, think what it would mean to you to be kept in the back room of your own house; never allowed to eat with your own husband; never allowed beyond your own threshold without being accompanied by a guard, and so closely covered as to prevent your breathing the pure, fresh air that God intended for every creature. These women are kept in gross ignorance and superstition. Hindu mythology declares ignorance to be ‘woman’s chief adornment.’

My pundit said to me one day, when I had finished my language lesson: “I love my books. When I am tired or worried, I always find refuge in my books, and I always tell my wife never to allow me to be disturbed at such times.” To see what he would say, I asked, “And how about your wife? does she enjoy her books, too?” “O,” he said, a mingled look of amusement and contempt upon his face, “My wife is an ignoramus; she can not read. But she is a very obedient wife.” These words fell from the lips of a highly educated Hindu, long a teacher in one of the colleges of Calcutta. It is a part of his religion to see that his wife is kept in ignorance, while he is at liberty to go and come as he chooses, and to acquire an education and place among men.

But the purdah system, deplorable as it may be, is not the worst offspring of the Hindu religion. The most blighting evil connected with the whole system is child marriage, which means helpless widowhood to millions. It is encouraging to note that those who have been snatched from this cruel system, and given an opportunity, are bright and intelligent and very susceptible to good influences. May the time speedily come when many of these precious souls shall hear the gospel of the third angel’s message, and be saved for the soon-coming kingdom of our Lord.

Calcutta.